On thinking and translating Philosophy: Tomislav Ladan’s translation of Aristotle’s works from the standpoint of translatability of Philosophy and Aristotle’s Metaphysics

Abstract

Tomislav Ladan published four major translations of Aristotle’s works in less than ten years, which ensures a philosophical and philological reflection on translating antique philosophical works. Radically speaking, the question of writing philosophical works arose as early as Plato, so we can ask ourselves today whether philosophy, which maybe is not possible to write about (and subsequently to understand), can be translated, is it possible to translate antique philosophy with a thousand-year gap? While translating, one can put the focus on various translational principles, but preserving the literalness and foreignness of the translation seems closer to the philosophical point of translating: it is clear that it is not so much about the translation, as it is about the meaning in the context of (co)philosophising.